Another holiday over!!

Oh how quickly time goes. It seems like you wait and wait for occasions, and they come and are gone so quickly. I remember my Mother telling me that the older you get, the faster time goes. I am now a firm believer!!

Thanksgiving was wonderful! We had 2 dinners. One with our family and one with some new members and friends from our ward. It was awesome. I really enjoy cooking for a big occasion. You really feel like you have accomplished something, especially when your guests eat and eat until they are stuffed. It is fun to have the kids and my sweet husband help me get everything ready. Sometimes there are little breakdowns, but most of the time is fun, as we all work together for a common goal. This time I was lucky, because Reid had 2 days off school and I had 2 days off work and so him and I worked together lots and he was a fantastic helper!! It was just fun to have 2 days just me and him!! I am thankful that at the age of 12, he still likes to snuggle up and watch a movie with his Mom.

Dallas's 16th Birthday is fast approaching. On Halloween Night, she will finally be able to concentrate on herself!! Her whole life so far, she has had to postpone her birthday because of Trick or Treating, but now that Reid has reached the cut off age of 12, we have no more Trick or Treaters and so she can finally have a celebration all her own. I cannot believe that she is going to be 16. She gave a talk on Sunday in sacrament and did such a fantastic job. I forget how mature she is sometimes. In my mind, she is still my little sidekick "Spud" and sometimes it shocks me that she is in Grade 11 and so grown up!! As she always has plans in her mind and doesn't always communicate her plans to her parents very well, maybe we should do some investigation work and find out what she has planned for her big day, in her mind???

Reid is excited for Halloween for a completely different reason, this will be the first time he gets to hand out candy. He has a special love for little kids and truly enjoys spending time with them, so he gets a real kick out of seeing our neighbours little kids come Trick or Treating. Plus he will get to dress his sidekick Gus in his Devil halloween costume so that they can answer the door together. Our next door neighbours have a little girl who comes out in the back yard and hangs onto the chain link fence yelling "Gussy, Gussy" and our little dog goes running over to the fence and she kisses him through the fence. It's pretty cute, other than the fact that he's licking her face. But she loves it and so does Gus and her Mom doesn't seem to mind, so what do you do? When she comes Trick or Treating, it is an extended Treat!!

The weather stinks! As if snow wasn't bad enough, the cold has been brutal. We just have not had time to get used to it yet. Brrr, when we leave for papers in the morning, it is just too darn cold. It is hard to believe that just 2 weeks ago it was 34 degrees above zero. No wonder we have had such a hard time with this cold snap. At least it is supposed to be beautiful on the weekend!!

Mike has had a tough couple of weeks. He has had a lot of stuff on his plate and I know that sometimes that pressure is hard to take. Yesterday he talked on the telephone to his brother in New Zealand. They haven't talked over the phone for quite a long time and it was a great visit. He sure enjoyed hearing about all of the adventures that they are having way across the ocean. We both love to hear of all the adventures that their kids are having. When your the Auntie and the Uncle, you have a completely different perspective on all of the mischief that they get into. Because we no longer have little kids we can completely enjoy all of the antics and we just love reading about them on Facebook and their Mom always words her descriptions so well. We just get the giggles!!

Thank heavens for the internet. It helps us all to keep track of one anothers lives while we are far apart. We love you all and hope that you and your families had a wonderful Thankgiving season!!